site.btaSocialists' Plenum Approves Election Campaign Platform

Socialists' Plenum Approves Election Campaign Platform


Sofia, June 28 (BTA) - The Plenum of the Bulgarian Socialist
Party (BSP) on Sunday approved the party's campaign platform for
this autumn's local elections and discussed matters of
organization. BSP Executive Bureau secretaries Anton Koutev and
Kristian Vigenin were removed from the Executive Bureau. Stefan
Stefanov from Veliko Turnovo was elected to the Bureau, BSP's
Georgi Kadiev told journalists.

Opening the Plenum, BSP Chairman Mihail Mikov said the
Socialists have been reinforcing their status as a consistent
opposition and a viable alternative to the current government.
Mikov said the Plenum was taking further steps to enforce
left-wing standards, which implies more efforts at the
grassroots level to identify the real problems of the people
and, if necessary, to conduct local referendums.

He reported an increase in leftist-oriented legislative
initiatives. Ill-wishers often want to see BSP torn by
contradictions, but the party is still standing strong, while
the ruling GERB is clearly slipping down, partly due to the
active left-wing policies, he said.

In a report on the current political situation in Bulgaria,
Mikov looked at the balance of political power. He accused the
government of implementing sham reforms and far-right policies,
pursuing chaotic actions and failing to maintain stability in
the ruling coalition. It is becoming increasingly obvious that
the government is propped up by the votes of parties which are
not officially involved in running the country, he said.

Mikov warned of divisions in society and the existence of
xenophobic and fascistoid sentiment. The attempt to create the
impression of national consensus about the need to increase
defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP is ill-advised,
considering the underfunding of other sectors, he said. He
further criticized the incumbents for their energy and health
care policies.

According to Mikov, the proposed amendments to the Constitution
are aimed at increasing the influence of the current ruling
coalition on the judicial system. He fears that the referendum
on election rules, proposed by President Rosen Plevneliev to
coincide with the local elections, will cause great confusion in
the election process.

The Plenum adopted a political declaration objecting to the
deployment of foreign heavy armament and foreign troops in
Bulgaria. The declaration says that, to Bulgaria and its people,
Russia does not pose a military threat.

In the declaration, the BSP National Council expressed its
sympathy for the victims of Friday's terrorist attacks in
Kuwait, Tunisia, France and Somalia.